The Painted Door
by conspiracy victim
Summary: When Anna is left alone, someone comes by that changes her life forever. Very strange twist at the end. YohAnna, HaoAnna. Finished!
1. Default Chapter

A note to anyone who is reading this. This story is based on another that I read in English, (was suppose to be reading another one but this one was more interesting) the idea for this story came from a story called the painted door, it was written by the brilliant Canadian author Sinclair Ross. So if you like the story line for this fan fic it came from Sinclair Ross. I just changed it a little.  
  
The painted door  
  
Straight across town, pass the skyscrapers and the busy subways it was four hours to Manta's house, and in this sort of traffic another two if Yoh was lucky.  
  
"I think I'll ride my motorcycle today," Yoh said at breakfast to his wife. "The traffic will be bad out, and I can weave in and out of the cars easier. That way I'll be home in time for supper.'  
  
"You really shouldn't be going today, the television said that it could rain later on," Anna said looking calmly out the window. "You said yourself it felt like it could even snow."  
  
Yoh just smiled at her.  
  
Anna walked over to the table and sat down, purposely avoiding his eyes.  
  
He glanced up uneasily, then setting his bowl down he tried to reassure her. "I won't be long. And if it does start to storm out, I'll be careful. I'll just slow down."  
  
Anna just looked over at him, gently tapping her chopstick on her bowl. Yoh watched her intently, wondering what she was thinking. He watched her a moment or two longer. Thinking she hadn't heard him, he repeated more insistently, "I said I'll be careful, you don't need to worry."  
  
"Yes-I heard you," It was a cold voice now, as if her words were chilled by the wind outside. "Anyway I have plenty to do while your gone. The bedroom door has been waiting to get painted for months now. Even though I had asked you to do it."  
  
Yoh lowered his head, pretending to be suddenly interested in his rice.  
  
Anna shook her head, "Don't pay any attention to me Yoh, it's this weather that has put me in a bad mood. Manta is your best friend. He will want to spend time with you before he leaves on his trip. Three months is a long time to be gone."  
  
A loud gusts of wind hit the house, shaking the front door, blowing cold air into the warm home. Both Anna and Yoh turned their heads. "Well perhaps I should stay at home. The weather lately has been very unpredictable." Yoh said looking over at Anna.  
  
Anna grabbed the dishes and walked over to the sink, "No, you better go, Manta will be disappointed if you don't come." he could no longer see her face. "If you leave now you may beat the traffic."  
  
"Anna," Yoh got up and walked behind her, "You should know by now that I'll be home in time."  
  
Anna knew very well that he would be home in time. He always was. But sometimes she almost wished that he would be late. Just for a change. These past few years had become like one giant blur. Every day mixing into the next. Anna found it hard sometimes to distinguish on day from the other. Back when Yoh was battling to become Shaman King every second of her life was different, but now. Now their conversations swayed more and more over to the old times when their lives had been exciting. Either that or what was on the news. Year after year their lives went on in this same little groove. A groove Anna desperately wanted to get out of.  
  
With that Yoh slowly made his way over to the door. He grabbed for his cell phone.  
  
"Don't bother with that, the batteries are dead. If you decide to stay overnight you can call me from Manta's." She turned on the water, still not looking directly into Yoh's eyes. "Make sure you wear your warm coat, or you'll freeze out there."  
  
Yoh put on his coat and gloves. "Don't worry I'll be back in time, I always am." He gave Anna one more reassuring smile before he put his helmet on. Anna watched as he started his bike, she had heard the noise of the bike before, but this time it gave her an uneasy feeling.


	2. Chapter two

Chapter Two  
  
Anna walked back over to the sink and started to wash the dishes. Why was she acting so silly? Yoh had gone away before and she had never worried this much. She went on washing the dishes her movements were furtive and constrained. It was the silence weighing upon her. Not being able to stand it any longer she turned on the television for some noise. She listened to it, suddenly tense, and motionless as she listened to the weather report. She quickly turned it off; listening to the weather would make her worry even more about Yoh.  
  
"It's a good chance when he's away to paint," she whispered hoarsely. "The day will go quickly. I won't have time to brood."  
  
Since October the paint had been waiting. She knew that the moist weather would cause the paint to take longer to dry, but she needed something to keep her hands occupied, something to stave off the gathering cold and loneliness.  
  
"But before I make another mess I need to clean the one in the kitchen," she moved briskly, performing each task with careful and exaggerated absorption, binding her thoughts to it, making it a wall between herself and the surrounding cold and silence. But after the table was cleared and all the dishes washed and put away it was more difficult again.  
  
Anna got out the paint and opened it. She carefully stirred the light brown paint until it was well mixed.  
  
For the next hour of so it was only the steady swishing of her brush against the bedroom door that kept her company. Six years now they had been married. The first year seemed to be the most enjoyable year of her life. Discovering each other, learning more and more about one another, but just like buying something new at a store the novelty wears off.  
  
Back then many of their friends still lived close by and would come over regularly and visit. But now many were gone living their own lives. Horo Horo now lived far away with his sister teaching snowboarding lessons in the winter, and in the warmer seasons he was in charge of maintenance of the resort. Ren was now married amazingly enough and had two young children which kept him very occupied. Lyserg had traveled to America and was working there, occasionally sending and e-mail now and then saying he would come and visit, but never got around to it. Ryu, well no one really knew where Ryu was. He traveled on his motorcycle all over the country living in motels or in a tent. Ryu loved that motorcycle, when he had come to visit one weekend he talked Yoh into buying a used Kawasaki NINJA. Needless to say Anna was not very pleased when he pulled up with that, 'Your going to kill yourself on that thing!!' for about a week that was all he heard. But when he took her for a ride she had to admit she enjoyed it but never did tell him.  
  
He had offered to sell it, but she had told him he could keep it. Anna sighed deeply, everyone had changed so much, except for them. The same old thing over and over. It was not like she didn't love Yoh, she cared for him deeply. But at times she always wondered. Yoh was always trying to please her, his devotion a baffling, insurmountable humility that made him feel the need of sacrifice. And when his muscles ached, when his feet dragged stolidly with weariness, then it seemed that in some measure at least he was making amends for his laziness and simple mind. He was always out trying to please her, but the only real difference that it made was to deprive her of his companionship, to make him a little duller and older than he might otherwise have been. Yoh never saw their lives objectively. To him it was not what he actually accomplished by means of the sacrifice that mattered, but the sacrifice itself, the gesture-something done for her sake. She had tried to talk with him, but she always asked herself, why sit trying to talk with a man who never talked. And when the neighbours did come over there was still nothing to speak about but the news.  
  
"I married him- and he's a good man. I mustn't keep on this way. It will be noon before long, and then time to think about supper. Yoh will be home by then," she said to herself.  
  
Anna jumped in fright as a loud crack of thunder broke the silence of her painting. She looked at the door and realized that in her brooding she had not been paying attention and one line of paint was all that was on the door.  
  
"I need to get this done, Yoh will never let me hear the end of it if I don't this done before he gets home."  
  
She went back to her painting. For a while it was easier, all her thoughts half anxious ones of Yoh in the storm. "He knew there was going to be a storm. I told him myself even. But it never matters what I say. Stubborn git. He goes his own way any ways. In a storm like this he'll never get home. He won't even try. And while he sits keeping Manta company I'll be at home worrying about him."  
  
It was not like she meant her words. It was just an effort to convince herself that she did have grievance, to justify her rebellious thoughts, to prove Yoh responsible for her unhappiness. Six years in this dumb house where nothing ever changes. Anna stared at the door wishing that it was Yoh so she could yell at him; tell him how she really felt.  
  
Anna finished with her painting, cleaning her brush she heard a noise of a car screeching around the corner. The motor roaring wildly, silencing the storm. The bass of the stereo booming loudly adding to the noise. Anna looked out the window wondering who it could be, but the car was now silent. She heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was Yoh she ran to it and opened it quickly not even bothering to see who it was. She stopped in shock when two deep brown eyes met hers. These eyes did not belong to Yoh, but his brother Hao. 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter three  
  
"So you're the one making all that noise?" Anna said bitterly.  
  
Hao only smiled at her and stepped aside so she could see the black sports car parked on the street. "Bran new, only had it five months." He moved closer to her, causing her to step back, "Sorry about the noise but I saw some kids playing on the street, so I thought I'd scare them a little."  
  
Anna looked at the car, but seemed very unimpressed. "Why are you here?"  
  
"Ah, to the point as usual," Hao smiled. _That smile of his, always the same_ _cocky grin full of confidence_, "I'm here to see Yoh."  
  
"He's not here," Anna snapped. She was about to close the door on Hao but he put his foot in the way.  
  
"Well then I'll just stay and wait for him then, I'm sure you won't mind." Hao pushed his way in smiling broadly. He was drenched from the rain, dripping water all over the floor. He took off his coat and shoes.  
  
Anna watched him intently. He looked up at her noticing her eyes on him. "So where is Yoh?" he asked.  
  
"He's gone to see Manta for a while. He will be leaving on a business trip for three months, and Yoh wanted to see him before he left. He should be back by supper."  
  
Hao nodded his head, "I noticed the motorcycle is gone, he didn't take that did he?"  
  
"Yes he did."  
  
"What a dip shit! He'll spin out in this weather."  
  
Anna chose to ignore his last comment, going back to cleaning her paintbrush.  
  
Hao sniffed the air, "It smells like paint in here."  
  
"I just painted the door so don't touch it, with this wet weather it will be a long time before it will dry," she turned off the tap and faced Hao, who was standing there looking at her. His keen brown eyes met hers, and held them.  
  
From the first time she met Hao, she had noticed how much he resembled Yoh. But yet, was completely different. He and Yoh were like a coin made out of the same metal yet had completely different sides.  
  
Out of all Hao's features his eyes were the most distant from Yoh's. Hao's eyes were filled with something different. A fire that burned with an intensity greater then Yoh's and a focus that could never be matched or broken. Hao was never one who took crap from anyone. He did things his way and never cared who didn't like it. Why when she had tried to slap him he grabbed her arm, and for the first time in her life, a flash of complete fear had ran threw her body, like her blood had been frozen. Back then Hao was filled with anger and the need for power.  
  
Anna had always hated to admit it but he had changed over the past years. A different motive was in his eyes; his laugh was not as arrogant, his smile not as deceiving. Even the way he carried himself was different. She knew that Hao was aware that he had changed, but out of everyone he would be the first to deny it.  
  
"What are you looking at?" Hao suddenly blurted out, "Is my fly undone," he looked down at his pants. This gave Anna time to recover, and put her sour face back on.  
  
"I was just wondering why you are wanting to speak with Yoh," she snapped hoping that he had not realized how long she had been looking at him.  
  
Hao eyed her curiously, "Well, I was reading the newspaper the other day and saw that some family is looking for someone to teach their son how to use a katana. They are paying very well so I thought I would let Yoh know. If he got the job he would be doing something he liked and making a shit load of money at the same time," Hao rambled this off quickly, as if he was embarrassed of wanting to help his brother.  
  
"That's very kind of you. Yoh will probably want to hear the news straight from you, he hasn't see you in a very long time."  
  
Hao turned away and walked over to the kitchen and sat down. His eyes were down concentrating on a grain of rice that had been left from breakfast. He flicked it with his finger, sending it flying.  
  
Anna walked over to the window. She watched the rainfall; it was raining so badly outside that it looked like a solid wall of water. "Yoh will try and make it home."  
  
Hao's eyes shot up, "I'm sure he will," his voice sounded reassuring, but Anna's quick glance towards his direction told him that she had caught the undertone. But said nothing.  
  
She sat down across from him. Her arms folded across her chest with that same expression she always wore. They sat there for sometime with only the rain. Hao tapped his finger on the table; he couldn't take it anymore the silence was so deafening that it was hurting his ears. He looked over at her; Anna was still looking at him. It frustrated him not knowing what she was thinking. With most people he could read them like a book. But with Anna, she had always been a challenge.  
  
"So six years now," he blurted out, feeling almost rude breaking the silence. He was surprised when Anna only responded with a nod. Hao felt strange, almost awkward if that was even possible for him, but this was the first time they had ever been alone together. A wave of relief flooded over him when Anna started opened her mouth to speak. But again it was made uncomfortable for him when she again said nothing.  
  
Anna's outward expression betrayed any indication that she too was feeling uncomfortable. Any other time they had spoken to one another, _(which was_ _rare but it did happen)_ their conversations had always been brisk, but now suddenly she found it strained. She quickly glanced at the clock and dread fell on her when she saw that it was not even five yet.  
  
"Do you want to watch some television?" she asked. Those words sounded so strange coming out of her mouth. Asking Hao if he wanted to watch T.V. She was surprised but very relived when he nodded his head.  
  
The two sat there watching some corny game show, where you had to run through different obstacle courses, and to win you hand to try and not fall and smash your face.  
  
Hao cracked a smile as the man on T.V fell and hit the water in a very painful belly flop; he looked over at her still laughing lightly. Anna gave Hao a sidelong glance, he had a very different sort of smile then he once did. It lit up his lean, still-boyish face with a peculiar kind of arrogance: features and smile that were different from Yoh's, from other men's. Hao was tall, stood proud and was very strongly built. His hair was thick and dark, his young lips curved soft and full. While Yoh, she made the comparison swiftly, was shorter, skinny and stooped. He had always stood before her helpless, a kind of humility and wonderment in his attitude. And Hao now smiled on her appraisingly with the assurance of one for whom a woman holds neither mystery nor illusion.  
  
Anna shook her head, why was she comparing Yoh and Hao? She was Yoh's wife- she knew- but also she knew that the man sitting there was quite different from Yoh.  
  
Anna glanced at the door when she heard a noise outside, but it was only the wind.  
  
Hao sighed deeply, "He won't be coming home tonight."  
  
Anna shook her head, "He always comes home when he says he will."  
  
After watching T.V for a few hours, Anna was starting to get hungry. She walked over to the kitchen and began getting supper ready. She heard Hoa get up as well; a shiver ran threw her body as she felt his eyes on her back. When she turned around he was smiling at her. The same little twist of mockery and appraisal lingered in his smile. It made her flinch suddenly, and ask herself why she was pretending to expect Yoh- why there should be this instinct of defence to force her.  
  
Neither spoke now. There was something strange, about this Hao and his quiet, unrelenting smile; but strangest of all was the familiarity: the Hao she had never seen or encountered, and yet had always known, always expected, always waited for. She kept her eyes on the table as she set the bowls and plates down, but his smile now seemed to exist apart from him, to merge and hover with the silence. He began to speak, but her mind missed the meaning of his words. Swiftly she was making comparisons again; his face so handsome and youthful. Swiftly, helplessly, feeling the imperceptible and relentless domination that thereby he was gaining over her, sensing sudden menace in this new more vital life, even if she felt drawn towards it.  
  
"Why do you keep smiling at me like that!" she spat out at him.  
  
Hao took a step towards her, "You think I haven't noticed you staring at me? Your eyes creeping towards my direction when you think I'm not looking?"  
  
"Nonsense!" Anna shouted. She was afraid now. Afraid of his eyes so different from Yoh's- of his smile, of her own helplessness to deny it. Afraid of the storm, isolating her here alone with him. Just as she was about to speak again the lights fluttered and complete darkness filled the house.  
  
"Powers out," Hao's voice spoke from out of the darkness.  
  
Anna made her way towards the phone and picked it up, no dial tone could be heard. Now she couldn't know if Yoh was staying or not. Her eyes shot over towards Hao's direction as he lit his lighter, creating a soft ring of light in the kitchen.  
  
"We have a generator in the back, I'll go start it up," Anna spoke quickly as she walked over to get her coat out of the closet, but just as she was about to open it a strong arm closed it again.  
  
"I'll go, I already got wet once today," his voice was firm leaving no room for protest. Anna only nodded her head and handed him his jacket. She watched out the window as he ran behind the house, the rain pelting him relentlessly. After a few minutes the lights flickered back on but were much dimmer. The door flew open as Hao entered the house; the wind blew in the rain causing a large puddle to form on the floor. He closed the door and leaded up against it.  
  
"Weather has gotten worse, snow is starting to fall."  
  
Anna looked out the window suddenly, hearing the sound of an engine, but was disappointed when she watched and old car drive by.  
  
"Not tonight- you might as well make up your mind to it. Driving a motorcycle in this weather- it would be suicide to try."  
  
Her lips trembled suddenly in an effort to answer, to challenge the certainty in his voice, but she realized he was probably right. In this weather Yoh would probably not even try to take a bus home, if any were still running in this awful weather.  
  
"It's to rough a night," he repeated. "Even for Yoh. Just relax a few minutes- stop worrying," Hao sounded concerned for her but in his tone there was a contradiction to his words. For it implied that she was not worrying- that her only concern was that it really might be Yoh at the door. And the feeling persisted, and slowly she began to ask, was he right? Was that why he smiled at her in such a way?  
  
Hao was drenched, water dripped of his coat and hair, adding to the already large puddle that was on the floor. "Come, I'll get you some dry clothes. Yoh's will fit you," Anna led him down the hallway towards the bedroom. She slid the door open. Suddenly Anna pulled her hand away. "Damn, I forgot I painted the door, it's still wet." She looked down at the small brown smear of paint on her hand.  
  
After rummaging through the closet she found some of Yoh's clothing and laid them out on the bed. Her eyes crept over to the window watching the rain and snow hitting the glass.  
  
"Yoh wouldn't try," Hao suddenly answered her thoughts. "He knows you're safe."  
  
"He told me he would drive slowly. Yoh has made it thought storms before on the motorcycle."  
  
"A storm like this, it's snowing out. Just listen to it a second and ask yourself," his voice seemed softer, kindlier now. She met his smile a moment before she left the room to let him change.  
  
Anna waited for him in the kitchen but he did not come. Five minutes, ten minutes. Anna stirred the vegetables vigorously wondering what he was doing. Finally her curiosity won her over and she walked to the door and knocked on it lightly.  
  
"Come in," a voice replied from within.  
  
Anna carefully slid the door open; Hao was standing there with his back facing her. Anna walked beside him and saw that he was looking at there wedding pictures.  
  
In one Anna and Yoh stood together with happy smiles on their faces. The picture next to it Yoh and Hao stood side by side, Hao's arm around Yoh's shoulders, putting him in a playful neck hold. Each dressed in black suits, looking their best.  
  
Hao looked up at her and met her eyes, and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. But in his smile now, instead of the insolent appraisal that she feared, there seemed a kind of warmth and sympathy, causing her to wonder why but a moment ago she had feared that smile. It was as if the storm had lulled, as if she had suddenly found calm and shelter.  
  
Then the thought hit her that perhaps it was not his smile that changed, but that she had changed.  
  
"I remember the day like it was yesterday," Hao said softly picking up one of the pictures. "You were wearing the same perfume as you have on now. I remember smelling it when we danced at the reception."  
  
His words left Anna without speech for a moment, but she managed to find her voice again, "You remember a little thing like that?"  
  
Hao laughed a little, "I remember lots of things. Ren and Lyserg trying to figure out the stereo system for three hours, when the only problem was that it was unplugged, Horo getting drunk at the bachelor party, and singing along with every song that played at the bar. You know they had to turn off the music to get him to stop. And Yoh. How could I forget how nervous he was. He threw up before the wedding in a dumpster behind a restaurant."  
  
Anna laughed lightly, Yoh had never told her that.  
  
Suddenly she found herself face to face with Hao, he was staring at her intently, he lowered his, and raised it slowly to meet her gaze. "I also remember something else," he said in a voice so soft that Anna wouldn't have even recognized it if he hadn't been standing before her.  
  
"What do you remember?"  
  
"Thinking, that Yoh was the luckiest man on earth to have someone like you," Hao moved closer to her. His eyes were cool and calm. Hers were fanatic, fixed upon him as if to exclude all else. The light dimmed slightly, gathering the shadows round them. Before Anna could stop it his lips brushed lightly against hers. 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
Long after Hao was asleep Anna lay listening to the storm. The light from the kitchen flickered every now and then sending shadows into the room. There was one great shadow that crawled towards her threateningly, massive and back engulfing the room. Again and again it advanced, about to surround her, but each time a surge of electricity brightened the kitchen lights. Yet though it never reached her still she cowered, feeling as if all the cold and wind was gathered in that shadow.  
  
She slept a while, falling in and out consciousness, all of a sudden she opened her eyes and the shadow was Yoh. Slowly he advanced on her, the shadow and light dancing behind him, resembling little snakes that were moving closer to her. She lay frozen, paralysed. He was over her now, so close that she could have reached out and touched him. Already it felt like a deadly grasp was tightening on her throat. She tried to scream but her lips were locked. Hao beside her slept on casually.  
  
Suddenly a gleam of light revealed his face. No trace of threat or anger rested on his face-only calm, and stone like hopelessness. That was like Yoh. He began to withdraw, and frantically she tried to call him back. "It isn't true- not really true- listen Yoh-"but the words clung frozen to her lips. The only things heard was the shriek of the wind and rain pounding the house.  
  
She jolted up, startled now and awake. So real he had seemed there, standing close to her, so vivid the sorrow in his face, that at first she could not make herself understand that she had only been dreaming. Even though it was only a dream Anna had to repeat over and over again in her head that Yoh was at Manta's. It was only her mind, her imagination, distorted into a horrible nightmare of the dread of his return. But he wouldn't come. Hao was right, in a storm like this. They were safe, alone. No one would ever know. It was only fear, morbid and irrational; it was only her sense of guilt that drove her to imagine such things.  
  
Anna wept silently, the house shuddered and quailed, and a chill crept in again. Without wakening Hao she slipped out of the bed to turn up the heat. But the warmth was a long time coming. Anna wrapped a blanket around herself to stop her shivering. She sat in the dark thinking of what had happened. She remembered the shadow that was Yoh. She saw him bent towards her, then retreating, his features pale and clouded with unaccusing grief. She re-lived there six years together and in retrospect, found them to be years of worth and dignity.  
  
She slowly made her way over the window and watched the snowfall to the ground creating a slushy mess on the streets. The wind howling loudly like an angry wolf, sending cold air into the house.  
  
Suddenly Anna asked herself, hadn't there been other storms? And through the worst of them hadn't Yoh always reached her?  
  
Clutched by the thought she stood rooted a minute. It was hard now to understand how she could have so deceived herself- how a moment of passion could have quieted within her not only conscience but reason and discretion too. How could she have slept with Hao, everything just happened so fast. She wished that Yoh had come home before this had happened. Yoh always came. There could be nothing that would stop him. He was strong, inured the cold. She looked at the clock, it was almost twelve. It was madness to go on like this- to wait. While there was still time she must waken Hao, and hurry him away.  
  
But in the bedroom again, standing at Hao's side, she hesitated. In his detachment from it all, in his quiet, even breathing, there was such sanity, such realism. For him nothing had happened; nothing would. If she wakened him he would only laugh and tell her to listen to the storm. Anna sat on the edge of the futon while Hao slept, his back turned to her. She sat there long past midnight; either Yoh had crashed or had not set out at all. She new that in his devotion, there was nothing foolhardy. He would never risk driving in a storm like this, or sacrifice his life to endanger their future. They were both safe. No one would ever know. She must control herself- be sane like Hao.  
  
For comfort she let her hand rest a while on Hao's shoulder. It would be easier were he awake now, with her, sharing her guilt; but slowly as she watched his handsome face in the dimmed light she came to understand that for him no guilt existed. Just as there had been no passion, no conflict. Nothing but the sane appraisal of their situation, nothing but the expectant little smile, and the arrogance of features that were different from Yoh's. She cringed, remembering how quickly she had fixed her eyes on those features, how she had tried to believe that so handsome and young Hao was, so different from Yoh that must have been her justification.  
  
In the darkness of the room Hao's features were still young, still handsome. No longer her justification- she knew now- Yoh was the man- but wistfully still, wondering sharply at their power and tyranny, she touched them a moment with her fingertips again.  
  
Anna could not blame him. There had been no passion, no guilt; therefore there could be no responsibility. Suddenly looking down at him as he slept, half-smiling still, his lips relaxed in the conscienceless complacency of his achievement, she understood that thus he was revealed in his entirety- all there ever was or ever could be. Yoh was the man. With him lay all the future. For tonight, and the rest of their days and years to some, she would try to make amends for what she had done.  
  
Not being able to stand still she walked back to the kitchen and watched at the storm gradually began to spend itself. The snow stopped falling and the wind was silent, giving one last worn out moan.  
  
The paramedics found him the next day, less than a mile from their house. He had spun out on his motorcycle crashing head on with a cement barrier. They told Anna that he probably never suffered; the collision would have killed him instantly.  
  
"It is very odd I must agree with you," the one paramedic said to the other as they stood outside the door of the hospital room.  
  
"What is odd?" Anna asked, managing to find her voice.  
  
"Well that he went out in a storm like this, but what is stranger is that no skid marks were found at the accident. It looked as if he didn't try and stop at all, just took the barrier head on. But maybe with all the rain and snow it was difficult to see."  
  
She looked past them a moment, then as if to herself said simply. "If you knew him, though- Yoh would try and make it home in this storm."  
  
It was later, when they had left her a while to be alone with him that she reached down and touched his hand. Her eyes dimmed; still it was such a strong and patient hand. Then her eyes grew wide and clear transfixed on his hand. On the palm, was a smear of brown paint.  
  
The End.  
  
Bet you didn't see that coming at the end. Hope you liked it. Well it's more like I hope you understood the ending. If not just tell me and I can clarify it for ya. 


	5. For people who don't understand the end

For anyone who didn't get the story because many of you are having trouble.  
  
Anna is waiting for Yoh to come home but Hao comes to see Yoh. Hao says he will wait for Yoh. While Anna and Hao are waiting, Anna starts to compare Hao and Yoh and thinks that Hao is better then Yoh. Hao and Anna kiss, and after that they sleep together. Yoh comes home later on and sees them together in bed, (This is how Yoh got paint on his hand, Anna had painted the bedroom door) After Yoh sees them together he goes away. Later on when the paramedics find Yoh they saw he died because of a motorcycle crash. Anna goes to the hospital to see Yoh, still thinking that he died not knowing that she had slept with Hao. But when she sees that Yoh had paint on his hand, Anna realizes that he had come back to the house and saw her and Hao. And the whole thing about the paramedics saying that it looked like Yoh didn't even try and slow down before hitting the cement barrier. It was suppose to mean that Yoh had purposely sped up and hit the barrier, killing himself, because he saw Anna in bed with Hao.  
  
Hope this helped; this story is based on one that people in grade 12 would read so it is a little complicated. 


End file.
